THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
taste, which may be removed by parboiling- for a few min- 
utes. They may then be stewed with milk or treated as other 
edible fungi are. When one is fortunate enough to find it in 
quantity, it may be made the base of many palatable meals. 
The specimen illustrated was found in the Forest of Arden 
two years ago. by Mr. H. C. Skeels. During the winter a 
section of the log was removed to a shady place near his 
home, and last autumn bore such an abundant crop that all 
his acquaintances dined upon it frequently. Nearly a hun- 
dred pounds of edible fungus was removed from this section. 
Our photograph is made from the section left in the forest. 
When the spores ripened an effort was made to plant it on 
other logs by inserting spores in the most likely places. 
Whether this was successful or not remains for another sea- 
son to tell. Our photograpli was made by Prof. V. D. 
'HERE is no more famous plant in the world than the 
upas tree of Java. It is made to point a moral and 
adorn a tale. All sorts of dreadful stories have been told 
about it, till "the deadly upas" has become a by-w'ord and a 
figure of speech. Most of these legends are, however, grossly 
exaggerated. The tree Antiaris is certainly poisonous to a 
degree, and many persons have been dangerously affected by 
climbing after its flowers or fruit. Still, w^e must totally dis- 
credit the more romantic and thrilling tales. They will do 
to take place beside the ston,- of the arboreous, man-eating 
Drosera, famous some thirty years ago. Where a thing is 
not inherently impossible, it is easy to build up an agreeable 
THE UPAS TREE. 
{AnMaris Toxica^ia?) 
